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Sunday, 25 November 2012

Yep.....I had to change my blog for Christmas. It is so hot here in Queensland that I just wanted to see a cool theme.
I can't wait to put up the tree next week and have already drafted the grandchildren to assist with the job. There is the promise of swimming and watermelon to help sweeten the bargain.

I thought I would show you some of the things I have made in the past. I love making one new item each year and to slowly replace all the store brought (not many left now) things.

Reindeer sitting - I think he's eaten too much to stand.

Flying Santa.

Saw this moose in a magazine so I freehand drew him and painted after Mr B cut him out with the jig-saw. I don't think it is safe for me to handle sharp things........sometimes cut myself.......have the scars to prove it!!LOL. I have three of them.....quite a little herd and plan on adding more when I can find the template I made!

Happy elf.......he is happy! Crossed arms, Crossed legs.......this guy is getting a talking to later. When I get him out of the box that is! Also plum pudding angels. Made a few of those and they can be found in all my family and friends houses at Christmas time.

Trio of Santas.

Last years stitchery.

As you can see I love, love, love reindeer and Santas and can never have enough! I also love to watch Christmas movies and I don't mind watching repeats. I never lose my love for this time of year no matter how old I get.

Saturday, 17 November 2012

I had a couple of draws for the 2 fat quarter sets, one for previous follows and one for new followers.

Names in the hat bowl.

Daughter picking the names without looking.

The winner of the first draw is "Quilt Happy"

And the winner of the second draw is "Handmade for one Year"

Please send me your snail mail addresses and I will get these in the mail next week.

Thanks to all who participated.

Note: The cushion from the last entry is a Natalie Ross pattern called "For You with Love" and it is a cushion and has a sweet little bag that goes with it. The bag is the "For You" part, only I haven't made it and just love the "With Love" part of it.

It was a dark time stitching in my craft room last night...............................the fluro light started to strobe and I had no choice but to turn it off and complete my cushion by lamp light. Lucky the embroidery had been completed earlier and I only had to stitch the rest together!!

I felt like a pioneer woman and with a bit of imagination it could have been fire light.

Well it's done now and I can't wait to see it on my bed.

Just a couple of different shots. Thanks to Heidi and Bobbi for hosting this lovely get together. Hope everyone had a productive night.
Don't forget I am announcing my give-away tonight.

Thursday, 8 November 2012

I had yesterday off and had a lovely day mucking around in the craft room. Off course I really wasn't prepared and was thinking about finishing the runner................but..................I decided to try something new.
Some time ago I purchased a purse frame from Spotlight and thought about making this up. Now after a lengthy internet search it appears you have to draft your own pattern according to the size and shape of the handle!!! Isn't that just peachy!! Now I don't know about the rest of you smart people out there but sometimes there is just not enough views of something and I NEED MORE.
Anyway thought I would try..........A try is better than no attempt at all!

Quality checked and approval granted for commencement. Of course cat will sit right in the middle of everything!

The first effort turned out a little puffy on the sides where the frame ends. I must have played with the idea of unpicking for about 2 hours. I tried to talk my self into accepting that it would not be perfect and as the first try it would do!

I took myself off with some stitching and watched a movie, Snow White and the Huntsman.......Yum!!!!... Chris Hemsworth.........nice bit of eye candy there! LOL, but eventually it got the better of me and back to the craft room I went.
I unpicked the whole thing from the frame and undid the seam at the bottom so I could turn it back inside out and look at the seam.........Guess what! I forgot to trim the seam and snip into the corner!!!!! D'oh !!! What a Goose.
Long story short.....seam clipped and snipped and sitting perfectly!!! Easier to sew in and now I have a cute change purse. It matches the bag made for me by Barb!

Inside of bag. Some of the stitches show because I used the white spot material as the lining and black cotton to attach to the frame. I tried to keep the stitches under the frame........just pretend they are skinny black dots!

Looking forward to making some more of these as Christmas gifts for the girls.

Sunday, 4 November 2012

I have spent some of the weekend working on a couple of secret swaps so I can't give too much away and these will have to keep you guessing! LOL Two different items below!

I can however show you a couple of other little things I have been making.

Made a couple of gingerbread men from felt. The funny thing was.......after the photo was taken the camera had "blink detection" written on the screen. What?.......who blinked? Me or them? Look at the fellow with the stripy bow! Is that a sinister smile??? These are going into a box WITH a lid. I found this pattern in 2011 Better Homes and Gardens magazine......knew there was a reason to keep this edition!

The hangers on these fellows are from last years candy canes. You know the ones that come in a box of about 20 and they seem to linger around all year! Someone must have brought a box of 100 to work last year and I asked everyone to keep the hangers as I could use them for craft (didn't really know what they would be used for at the time only knew I wanted them), which led to a lot of comments about having to support my craft addiction!

Made another felt heart with flowers and beads this time. I found out about cutting flowers (felt and fabric) with my Big Shot machine at the recent craft show...........why didn't somebody tell me about it earlier? Love the no fuss use of felt.

Have to retrace the faded stitching pattern and I think I will test out the nifty pen included with my "F" swap from Pat. It states it is removed by application of heat and you can get the image back at minus 20 degrees C. I think I am going to like this pen! Thanks again Pat.

Don't forget to enter the give-away for new and old followers. Drawn on 17th November.

Saturday, 3 November 2012

Friday Night with Friends saw me finishing the Red Brolly Christmas Hanger. I love it and despite thinking that it might be fiddly to sew it was surprisingly easy and came together quickly. And........I sewed it together at night !!! I always try to do some craft after work in the evenings, but sometimes I am soooo tired I make a mess of it and have to spend time unpicking or even re-cutting a piece! And lots of choice words!!! LOL!

Just trying to show you the sides here. It's quite roomy and I will be able to fill it with plenty of goodies.
I made the hanging ribbon a little longer than the pattern stated so that I could tie a decent bow of sorts.
Might get another couple done before Christmas.

I also tried to do some stitching on one of the blocks for "Cake Walk" but the green pencil is fading and combined with night light I had to give up. I will need to get out the light box to retrace it again. NOT HAPPY! Won't be using that pen for tracing a stitchery or need to make sure I press harder next time!

Coming home from work on Friday afternoon I found a surprise in the mailbox. The postman had left my gift from Cheryll for participation in the "F" Challenge.

No thanks necessary Cheryll. I was having the time of my life trying to think of things for the swap! But........thanks all the same. They are lovely FQ's and I will have to make something out of them soon. Also loved what they were wrapped in............pattern paper. Maybe I can steal this idea for some of my things as I have a lot of patterns ( most with pieces missing as I am not too good at returning them back to the original packet) and can put them to use! Thanks for nifty idea Cheryll.

Don't forget to enter the give-away for new and old followers. Drawn on 17th November.

Thursday, 1 November 2012

OMG!!!! look what the post man brought....................a treasure trove of goodies from the letter "F" challenge.

THANK YOU PAT! I love this stuff. Do I feel spoiled? Yes I do.

Here is cat again helping me to open the parcel. She just loves the rustling of paper and always thinks it for her! Look at how beautifully they were all wrapped. I get ideas every time I participate in a swap.

Funny Fat of Fabric.

Four Fasteners.

Felt with fantastic form.

Flower that's fabulous from fabric.

Fun food with Fruit.

A Friendly Freebie.

Have to ask the question again..............................Who's spoilt??

A big thank you to Pat for sending these great "F" items to me, and of course Cheryll for organising this in the first instant.

Don't forget my give-away to be drawn on 17th November. Check it out here.

About Me

I have been happily married to my darling husband for 43 years, and together we have 2 grown children and 3 wonderful grandchildren. I love gardening, quilting, sewing, card making, knitting and crochet, collecting old china and old photos. I also love spending time in the garden where I find peace and comfort.